Blogging The Boys: Front Page Posts

Dreaming of Anquan Boldin

Tuna Helper — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:31:14 -0000

Roy Williams is really getting it from all sides now: NCAA bans the horse-collar tackle. Next up Pop Warner Football. Hopefully he doesn't get a congressional censure.

Could the 'Boys get Anquan Boldin? It would solve our No. 2 WR problems and he's obviously unhappy.

Spags stirs the pot a little bit by diving into this topic.

Jerry Jones meant, of course, potentially trading for a veteran wide receiver who could provide instant help rather than drafting one in the second or third round. Nothing materialized in the off-season, and Cardinals officials are insisting no matter what the veteran Boldin says, they have no interest in trading a guy under a contract averaging $4 million a year for three more years.

But Stephen Jones would go on to say, "If we have a chance to improve ourselves, we'll look at that."

Sorry guys but I refuse to believe this is going to happen. First of all, the Cards are going to try and appease him. This is my belief. He's too good of a football player to let go. It hasn't escalated to the point of no return yet, although he has asked to be traded. I still think, for whatever reason, the fences will be mended and he'll be a very productive member of that football team for the foreseeable future. More importantly though, there is no way the Cards are going to trade him to an already loaded team and conference competitor like the Cowboys. Just not going to happen.

But I can certainly dream about it. How nasty would that be? Two big physical receivers breaking through arm tackles and punishing would be defenders. Boldin taking over as our No. 1 receiver after age finally catches up to T.O. (if it ever does). Wow. I'm getting ants in my pants just thinking about it.

Too bad it's not gonna happen.

Shout out to HutHut and his fanpost here.

A fan almost makes the roster by running rings around security.

Everybody agrees. Martellus Bennett looks like a horse's backside with his antics on Hard Knocks. But Barry Horn of DMN points out other moments: Mike Jenkins struggling versus the Broncos and DeMarcus Ware playing with his daughter.

This show and it's affect on our team has been greatly overrated in my opinion. When the talk of the show is our third-string rookie tight end and not Romo painting Jessica's nails during training camp or Adam Jones leading a high speed chase or some other crazy scenario then I'm happy. It was supposed to be a circus. But so far the only clowns I see are the football experts who told us how detrimental it would be.

TD sees Texas Stadium as a landmark.

I sure do. Last time I was there Emmitt broke the NFL rushing record. There's really a majestic feel to the stadium.

Speaking of Emmitt, SportsNation chose him as the Greatest Cowboy of All-Time. Well duh. And I'd like to add most classiest although he's probably tied with Roger Staubach on that front. And the best dancer.

Dallas Cowboys news and notes

Brandon W — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:25:00 -0000

Each week the DMN blog will feature five questions with Bill Barnwell of Football Outsiders.

There is the requisite "Roy Williams is bad in coverage" but they also say that Marc Columbo is the most underrated player on the Cowboys. Here is what they have to say about Adam Jones.

2. Adam "Pacman" Jones arrived here with a lot of talk about his Pro Bowl potential. How close was he to being an elite cornerback for the Titans?

He wasn't close. He already was one. Jones often lined up in man coverage, and absolutely shut down opposing wideouts in 2006. His success rate was 63% -- that was second-best amongst all corners, and the 5.4 yards he gave up per pass were the best in the league. It's impossible to say what he'll be this year because of the year off, his obviously bizarre mental state, and the time it may take to adjust to a new system, but when his mind is right, Adam Jones is on the shortlist of best cornerbacks in football.

The Cowboys had a rain soaked practice open to the public yesterday at Texas Stadium. Several Cowboy greats were on hand to sign autographs before the practice, including Tony Dorsett.

"I can remember coming down here and yelling and screaming, 'It's nothing but a party. This is our house,'" Dorsett said. "We were going to do this and do that while we were following Tom Landry down the tunnel. But I had some sad feelings from the standpoint that this may be the last time that I ever walk down this tunnel."

DC.com has an article about the practice here.

Terence Newman has taken Mike Jenkins under his wing to ensure the rookie is as up to speed as possible as the season approaches. Newman is expected to be back on the field next week, but you never know what might happen. Jenkins has had an up and down preseason so far, but Terrell Owens likes what he sees.

"My first impressions of him when I went against him is that he has great feet [and] good technique," receiver Terrell Owens said. "It’s all about going out getting a feel, getting some reps and having himself feel comfortable out there. Once he does that, he’s going to be one of the best corners in the league

Jenkins allowed a touchdown pass last week, mainly because he has yet to learn all the new NFL rules.

"I didn’t know I could steer the receiver wherever I wanted once the quarterback rolled out of the pocket," Jenkins said. "There are still a lot of rules I don’t know yet. Once I know all the rules I’ll be pretty good out there."

This is where Newman comes in. Throughout he’s had Newman either in practice, in meetings or afterwards telling him what to look for, or what to do.

"From Day 1 he went down he came back to practice from doing treatment and he stayed on me," Jenkins said. "It shows a lot of class. A lot of guys wouldn’t do that. They’d feel threatened."

Terrell Owens says be patient, things will pick up once the starters get a rhythm going.

“Once the game starts, everybody gets that lather going, and you're ready to go out there and play,” Owens said. “You get into a little bit of a groove, and then the coaches say, ‘You're out.'

“You can't really get in a flow.”

But coach Wade Phillips says he plans to play his starters well into the third quarter Friday against Houston.

“To get timing offensively, especially in the passing game, you need some game time,” Phillips said Monday.

And is sad news, Gene Upshaw passed away suddenly after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just four days ago.

Hat tip to Deke for his Fanpost.

Anthony Spencer surgery (2-4 weeks); Adam Jones to start Friday

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:06:45 -0000

Bad news. Our number one backup linebacker on the outside, Anthony Spencer, had to have his knee scoped. Just like our number one backup on the inside, Kevin Burnett, did.

Second-year outside linebacker Anthony Spencer underwent arthroscopic surgery Wednesday morning to remove a chip from his swollen right knee.

Spencer is the second Cowboys linebacker in five days to have a knee scope, as Kevin Burnett had a similar procedure Friday. Spencer should miss 2-4 weeks, Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said.

"It was a clean-out much like Burnett," Phillips said. "There was a particle that just kept catching."

Our linebacking corps is getting thin. And against Denver no one really distinguished themselves behind the starters.

Adam Jones finally moves up to the first team in Terence Newman's absence.

Coach Wade Phillips said [Adam] Jones will start at left cornerback in Friday's preseason game against Houston.

They were going to make this move at some point anyway - moving Jones ahead of Mike Jenkins. Might as well start with the game that is supposed to be the dress rehearsal. It was good for Jenkins to get all those reps with the 1’s and play against the starters for the opposition but it’s time to get Jones his reps with the starting unit.

Here’s a practice report from tonight’s practice.

Long article on Isaiah Stanabck. He’s going to get a lot more reps over the next couple of weeks, a real chance to show what kind of progress he’s made at the wide receiver position.

"Last year when I came in here I didn't know anything about the position," Stanback recalled before Tuesday's practice at Valley Ranch. A quarterback at Washington his last three years in college, Stanback reviewed himself as a rookie receiver. "I was just one of those try-hard guys learning on the run. I didn't get the attention I wanted and probably needed from my position coach because he had other guys he needed to get ready. This year is a different story. I've had the whole off-season, OTAs, mini-camp, and all those reps have definitely come in handy. They have high expectations for me. I'm still not where I want to be, or need to be, but the reality of the situation is that I've still only been out there for a year. I can't expect too much, but being an athlete and a competitor you have high expectations of yourself."

Asked to rate himself as a receiver:

"I can run. I can run fast. Sometimes it feels like that's about it. I'm pretty strong. I'm strong in the weight room and I'm learning how to use that strength. If you don't know how to use it, it doesn't do you any good. I'm getting better in the running game, stuff like that.

"Route-running is getting better. There are still some routes I definitely need to work with, but I'm improving."

Dallas Cowboys Hard Knocks open thread

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:55:06 -0000

Open thread for the new show.

Film review: Offense, Cowboys @ Broncos

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:00:07 -0000

Here’s the review of the offense in the Broncos game.

QB – Tony Romo would have looked really good if he had a little more touch on two deep passes with receivers open. Still, I’m not worried about Romo’s play at the moment. Brad Johnson had a better game. With the o-line giving him some time he looked competent although Austin really helped him out on a couple of those catches. He did hold the ball too long once and missed an easy swing pass, but definitely looked better. Richard Bartel looks like he has potential but isn’t quite ready yet. Had a nice game though and the INT wasn’t his fault. Plus, good hustle play to stop the INT return.

RB - Marion Barber didn’t have a lot going on in this game. No worries. Felix Jones wasn’t showcased as often in this game as the previous one but he turned a short pass into a long gain again and broke a tackle along the way. He was quick to the corner on another run and had a couple of good blocks in pass protection, although they called tripping on one that I couldn’t see. Tashard Choice couldn’t get anything going on the ground but did have one nice catch. It was his special teams work that stood out this week. Keon Lattimore made the most of his carries, leading the team in rushing yards and showing some nice wiggle for a back his size. On one play he didn’t recognize a blitz and went into the pattern instead of helping out his QB with a block. Alonzo Coleman was mainly invisible except for a fantastic blitz pick up.

WR – Terrell Owens got a little work in early catching a string of short passes. Patrick Crayton was invisible except for one nice block on an MB3 run. Miles Austin had two outstanding catches while being closely covered, one for a TD and he continued his resurgence until the injury on kick coverage. Sam Hurd made a couple of catches but continues to have a very slow preseason after a hot training camp. Isaiah Stanback caught one pass but will get his opportunity this week to show us what he can do with increased reps. Danny Amendola had one catch, had one he couldn’t grab and left his QB out to dry on an INT. Todd Lowber had one long catch. Nothing from Mike Jefferson, Mark Bradford or Daniel Polk.

TE – Jason Witten. Ain’t even worried about it. Tony Curtis managed to catch a few passes just like last week and he’s learning to work out of the backfield as a blocker on runs. Martellus Bennett had a few good run blocks and a nice catch and run - knocking some steam out of Hard Knocks’ storyline. Rodney Hannah was the surprise star of the TE’s with four catches late in the game and a couple of really good run blocks. Drew Atchison did nothing.

FB – Deon Anderson threw two really good lead blocks and had a catch that was nullified by penalty. Ronnie Cruz dropped a pass and injured his shoulder. Julius Crosslin got one carry. Not much from the FB position in this game.

OL – Flozell Adams had trouble with a stunt on a three-man rush that caused a hurried throw but looked good otherwise. Kyle Kosier also whiffed on a block that killed an end around play but had a great pull-block on an MB3 counter. Andre Gurode had one suspect block in the running game but that was it. Leonard Davis was fine. Marc Colombo got a 15-yard penalty for a late hit that was borderline. Joe Berger had a major whiff on a run-block that got Choice smacked. Doug Free had one bad block on a run but got some good drive blocks later in the game for Lattimore. I got James Marten down for getting beat twice. Didn’t notice Cory Proctor, Ryan Gibbons, Adam Stenavich, Pat McQuistan or Cory Lekkerkerker.

What? Me? Worry?!?!

Tuna Helper — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:00:10 -0000

Can Marion Barber handle the load?

This article on ESPN answers the question definitively. James Quintong breaks down what type of back Barber is, how we use him and why he's capable of spearheading our ground game.

Barber's greatest asset is his versatility. He established himself as a third-down back who can catch passes out of the backfield, but he's also a hard-nosed runner between the tackles, which made him the go-to guy at the goal line. But he can also rip off the big play, as he's averaged 4.8 yards per carry each of the past two seasons. You can't pull off an average like that if you're only getting carries inside the 20.

In 2007, Barber carried the ball 160 of 204 times outside the opponent's 20-yard line. In those carries, he averaged a whopping 5.3 yards per carry. That includes a crazy 8.5 yards-per-carry on 44 attempts between the 40s. So obviously, he can be trusted upon to carry the ball anywhere on the field.

Hat tip and shout out to scottmaui and his fanpost here.

There seems to be a national consensus that maybe Cowboy Nation should be concerned about our 0-2 preseason start. Why do I say that? Because everywhere I go I see someone telling me not to worry.

First up is Spags. No one does sarcasm quite like Spags. His thoughts? Calm down, dude.

But for some reason, this season already is building as a Super Bowl or bust one, starting in preseason - already - and no matter the quarterback will be starting only his second full season in the NFL.

That's why it was quite reassuring to hear Terrell Owens' perspective on all this when he was assaulted with question after question here on Tuesday about the 0-2 start in preseason and those lofty goals.

"My thing is, let's win a playoff game," Owens said.

My thing, too.

Next up Clarence Hill and Mac Engel at the Star-Telegram. Their thoughts? Well the players say not to worry.

IRVING -- When it comes to their performance in the first two preseason games, the Dallas Cowboys are like many of their fans. Some are dismissing it, while others are starting to be alarmed.

Tight end Jason Witten and linebacker Bradie James say the team needs to play with a sense of urgency. Quarterback Tony Romo and receiver Terrell Owens are calling it much ado about nothing.

Owens said the preseason just isn’t that big a deal, pointing out that the current Super Bowl champions (New York Giants) won one game last year in the preseason.

His message to Cowboys fans: "There is no need to panic. You can’t assess how the season is going to go by the way you play throughout the preseason. The Giants won the Super Bowl [last year] and they only won one game in the preseason. It’s not a real true game feel assessment, because you are not really playing four quarters. We have made some strides. We are confident about the season."

But just in case you want to worry here are some solid things to get upset about.

Five reasons to be concerned
Tight end Martellus Bennett

The rookie second-round draft pick from Texas A&M has become a favorite of the Hard Knocks cameras because tight ends coach John Garrett has been all over him. The Cowboys want Bennett to exploit his enormous athletic ability, but this will likely be a season-long project. "I know what’s real and what’s not real, so it doesn’t bother me," Bennett said, regarding the Hard Knocks-generated perception. "I don’t regret anything I did. I’m picking things up every week."

Threat of injuries

Injuries are a concern for every team. If the Cowboys sustain injuries at the key positions -- Tony Romo, Flozell Adams, Terrell Owens, DeMarcus Ware, etc. -- there will be problems. The Cowboys are like most teams in that they have depth here and there, but not everywhere.

Call 1-800-Pass-Catcher

"We haven’t played anything yet," receiver Sam Hurd said. "Give us a chance to show what we can do. We haven’t played to our full ability yet." Hurd wants the media/fans to allow the backup receivers to at least play a game before they are collectively buried. Before the injury to Miles Austin, who has one career catch, this unit was thought to be an area of concern, even in the front office. Until proven otherwise, this is regarded as a concern.

Big Top becomes a Big Mess

Among a Pacman, a Tank, a T.O. and a Romo, there are a lot of personalities on this team, as well as lots of talent. It should work. But if it doesn’t, it has the ingredients for a finger-pointing salad.

Head coach Wade Phillips

It borders on unfair that a coach with a career record of 61-42 has his feet in the fire, but this is unique. His rumored successor was hired before he was, is his top assistant, and makes a lot of money. If for some reason the season doesn’t start well, do players look or even align themselves with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett? The situation is tenable, largely because of the two personalities involved, but there is a potential distraction should losses become more prevalent than wins.

Finally here comes T.O. His thoughts? Read my lips. I. Am. Not. Worried. FOXSports.com tries to goad him but he's not taking the bait.

"We'll be fine once the season starts," Owens said Tuesday. "I promise you."

So should we be worried? Look our special teams has played pretty terrible. Denver ran all over our first team defense. We have yet to score more than 20 points. Miles Austin was hurt. There are things to be worried about.

But in the grand scheme of things this stuff is relatively minor. Our offense has looked pretty good at times. None of our big stars are hurt. Felix Jones looks like a barnburner. Adam Jones looks like the real thing as a punt returner and he's rounding into form as a cornerback. We're going to be fine gentlemen. Just fine.

Hat tip and shout out to SmittyCityMo and his fanpost here.

Film review: Defense, Cowboys @ Broncos

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:57:02 -0000

OK, so the film review is a little late this week, I’ll try to do better next time. With the Dallas Cowboys playing a very vanilla defense for most of the game, the defensive plays were less than spectacular for the most part. Here’s the review of the defense, the offense and special teams to follow later.

NT – Jay Ratliff got blown out of middle a couple of times, he needs to tighten that down but he used his athleticism to run down a screen and then fought off a block to make a tackle on a draw play. He also had a couple of other standard tackles and forced a holding call. Tank Johnson wasn’t very visible and had one play where he and two other Cowboys totally blew a tackle on a run. Junior Siavii had one good penetration into the backfield and another assist on a tackle.

DE - Chris Canty got injured on the first play. Marcus Spears is still impressing me with his preseason play. One penetration on a run, one pressure on the QB during a pass and a nice tackle in the backfield. That’s being active. Jason Hatcher managed one nice tackle against the run, but that’s not enough, he needs to pick up his play. Stephen Bowen has had a quiet camp and preseason. Even though he played a lot of the Broncos game because of Canty’s injury I only have him down for one decent tackle. Marcus Smith again was very active when he got a chance to play. He tipped a pass at the line that killed a third down near the goal line, he had around three good tackles against the run and even came up with a cheap sack. Remi Ayodele got one good stick on a ball carrier.

OLB – DeMarcus Ware. We haven’t seen him turn it on yet, but he will. He made a couple of nice stops against the run and had one QB pressure that was almost a sack, but he also got called for pass interference. Greg Ellis had a so-so night, he strung out the run wide on a couple of plays but got overly aggressive on another run and gave up the edge contain. Erik Walden had a couple of plays where holding the edge against the run was a problem but he had a good QB pressure that almost led to an INT. He’s still raw. Justin Rogers has problems holding the edge against runs and just doesn’t show much at the position. Darrell Robertson got some late playing time and made a good read to cover the TE on a bootleg, but had a roughing the passer penalty. I only saw Tearrius George get involved in a couple of tackles.

ILB – Bradie James had an active game but was also part of the poor tackling the Cowboys exhibited early in the game. While playing in the dime coverage, he ran into Oglesby and knocked him off the coverage on one completed pass, he got called for a late-hit which I thought was a bad call, and got beat in coverage on a third and 2. But he did have quite a few tackles and batted down another third-down pass in coverage. Zach Thomas continues to excel by making a quick play to the sidelines for a tackle on a pass, he avoided a blocker and blew-up the run in the backfield along with several other nice tackles. He can also cover well and did it in this game. He still can get washed-out against the run near the goal line, something the Cowboys linebackers have been having problems with this preseason. Bobby Carpenter had a very uninspiring game when he had a chance to really shine. He whiffed on a tackle at the goal line and wasn’t very involved other than one nice tackle against the run. He also had one great blitz that led to a hurried pass and almost a sack. But overall, it’s time to step it up again for the Caveman. Tyson Smith actually made some plays when given the opportunity. He created pressure on the QB that would have led to an INT except for a penalty on another Cowboy. He also had four good tackles in the running game. Nice job.

CB – Anthony Henry. Up and down game for Henry. He had another big stick this week when he nailed a Broncos WR, but he allowed a receiver to beat him for the ball in the air and gave up some passes in front of him. The Cowboys were playing a soft-zone so it’s probably not a big deal. Mike Jenkins finally got burned because of his aggressive play on a double-move, something I noted he could be vulnerable to during camp because of his press-style. He also allowed a TD pass. One good thing about Jenkins is that like Henry; he’s not scared to get involved in run support and managed a couple of tackles in that area. Adam Jones sure turned his game around this week, as poor as last week’s showing was, this week he was that good. He almost got a pick six, was in good position on a couple of more passes, and was very active in making tackles against the run and after short catches. He looked much better. Evan Oglesby helped himself again in this game. He gave up a couple of passes against Stokley and on another play was left with the impossible task of having two guys to cover, but overall played a solid game. Orlando Scandrick isn’t afraid to hit as he lit up another opposing player this week. He’s looking pretty good in coverage and shows the willingness to perform run support. A solid start for the rookie. Alan Ball continues to make mistakes that are jeopardizing his chances of making the roster. He had a penalty that nullified an INT and made no plays on the ball and exhibited poor coverage. His time is running out.

S – Roy Williams didn’t make a whole lot of plays in the game and was part of the bad tacking that plagued the Cowboys. Ken Hamlin also was not immune to a missed tackle but he ended with a fair amount of tackles in the game. Pat Watkins, for the second week in a row, had an INT nullified by a Cowboys penalty. Courtney Brown had some good plays in run support and got a tackle for loss but gave up a huge fourth down conversion when he let his man go in the pattern on a bootleg, only an underthrown ball prevented it from being a TD. Dowaye Davis had one blitz play that almost was a sack but not much else.

Cowboys practice for the fans tonight

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:24:21 -0000

The Dallas Cowboys will be practicing under the lights in an open session at Texas Stadium tonight. If any BTB’ers are local and are going to the practice, I expect a full write-up of the happenings, Grizz style! Get your pen and paper ready.

Roy Williams was held out of team-practice yesterday with a little tendinitis in the knee as a precautionary measure. Pat Watkins got some work at strong safety in his absence, along with Courtney Brown. It sounds to me like they want to have the diversity of Ken Hamlin, Pat Watkins and Courtney Brown being able to play both safety spots. It may be reading too much into it, but this may be an indicator that they aren’t planning on carrying five safeties and that Dowayne Davis hasn’t been doing enough on special teams to warrant a roster spot. That’s just speculation on my part, though.

Injury report from yesterday: Terence Newman, Anthony Spencer, Kevin Burnett, Miles Austin, Ronnie Cruz, Quincy Butler, Tyler Everett and Marcus Dixon all sat out.

I love this idea, zone coverage is OK, but if you have the personnel to play man-to-man, do it. You have to have guys who can play press coverage and you need defensive line/linebackers that can apply pressure and do it quickly.

The Cowboys played mostly zone coverage last season. Terence Newman battled a foot injury all season. Jacques Reeves and Nate Jones saw considerable playing time. Both were unrestricted free agents after the season, and the Cowboys let them go.

This season, the Cowboys' cornerback situation is drastically different. With the additions of Jones and rookies Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick, the coaching staff believes the defense can play more man-to-man coverage.

The comment from Wade Phillips about El Gato possibly not doing kickoff returns sure set off a firestorm with the Cowboys faithful. I want to see Felix back there but if Wade feels he’s too integral to what we’re doing on offense, I’m not going to be broken-hearted if he goes with Miles Austin (when healthy), Isaiah Stanback or Orlando Scandrick. Plenty of coaches throughout history have not played guys on special teams for fear of injuries. It’s nothing new although it’s rare with a guy who’s not a starter. My guess is that Felix will end up back there some during the season, but it might be in situational duty and not a regular thing.

Anyway, the special teams did up their play against the Broncos, let’s hope it continues this week. Orlando Scandrick and Tashard Choice are two guys getting noticed on special teams.

Scandrick in particular could bolster the units in his rookie year. In addition to his cover skills, the Cowboys were intrigued by his special teams production at Boise State. He blocked a school-record seven kicks and came within inches of stuffing a Broncos missed field goal attempt at the end of the first half, his pressure forcing kicker Matt Prater to push it far left.

Broncos punter Brett Kern saw plenty of rookie running back Tashard Choice on one of the most bizarre plays you'll ever see. Choice deflected the punt but the ball landed in the arms of Kern, who raced down the right sideline for a 36-yard gain and a first down. Tough break for the Cowboys' fourth-round pick.

The Dolphins are shopping John Beck for a fourth-round pick. That’s too high, pass.

Hat tip DMN blog.

Don’t go living in the past T.O. Also, the team says that if this was a regular season game, Terence Newman would probably play.

Is Wade Phillips too soft to coach the Cowboys to glory?

Brandon W — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:11:56 -0000

Last year when Jerry Jones was looking for the successor to Bill Parcells, I was much more in favor of Wade Phillips over Norv Turner. I thought Turner was an incredible offensive coordinator yet he just wasn't able to get it done as a coach, and players that had played for him have stated that he was never able to get accountability out his players. It was obvious that the team needed a change of pace from Parcells, but I also wasn't keen on seeing a pushover coach come in and lead America's Team. As the coaching search continued and Wade Phillips emerged as one of the favorites to get the job, it made sense to me that Phillips would be the best fit. With Tony Romo heading up a talented offense, it was obvious the unit that needed the most work was a very inconsistent defense. Wade Phillips was known for coming to a team and being able to improve the play of his defense almost immediately. Under Phillips, San Diego had turned into one of the most talented and feared units in the league. And if the team wanted someone different than Bill Parcells, there is no one further on the opposite end of the coaching spectrum than Wade Phillips.

As soon as training camp started last year, the changes from the previous regime were apparent. Dubbed by the local media as "Camp Cupcake" it was thought that while a change of pace is nice, perhaps there is such thing as being too much of a "player's coach." However, the Cowboys exploded out of the gates to a 12-1 record before finishing the season 13-3 and the number one seed in the NFC. Perhaps we were wrong to speculate and Wade Phillips really was the coach we needed to find success.

Yet disappointment of December bled over into January and while, yes Dallas did have a first-round bye, the Cowboys bowed out once again in the first game of the playoffs. A team that had played high-octane, high-flying football for three months fell flat on its face, unable to score more than 20 points in the final four games of the season including a 21-17 loss to the New York Giants. Immediately questions were raised, wondering why Dallas yet again failed when it mattered most. What was most disconcerting was how Wade Phillips handled the scrutiny, almost refusing to acknowledge that the season was a failure as he relentlessly cited the team's 13-3 regular season record.

As the Cowboys moved forward during the 2008 preseason the players said the right things, the coaching staff was tweaked to help better support Wade Phillips and Jerry and Stephen Jones improved the team as much as their wallets would allow. On paper the Cowboys improved an already impressive team but the question has still remained; will Wade Phillips be able to find postseason success with perhaps the most talented team in the NFL?

Some have stated that the Cowboys locker room is just ready to erupt, that the team on the constant verge of turmoil as numerous egos fight for breathing room. Yet Wade Phillips has been able to reign in those egos as preaches the power of the team as family, a concept that has been embraced by all on the roster. HBO's Hard Knocks, usually a insider's view of team controversy, has come up empty as it portrays a team having fun together as the prepare for the upcoming season. But the way the team has played in the first two games of the preseason has many wondering if perhaps there is such thing as too much fun.

There is nothing wrong with losing in the preseason; teams play their starters sparingly, there is no game planning and it is used as a nominal time to evaluate young players. However, undisciplined and uninspired football is very concerning to see, especially when a team has Super Bowl hopes. What is most disconcerting is that the issues that have plagued the team in August are the same problems that led to its downfall last January. Penalties and lackluster effort will trump any amount of talent you might have on your team, and the responsibility for improving in those areas has to lie somewhere, and the finger is immediately pointed at the head coach.

To me, Wade Phillips is more of a team manager than the head coach. He allows the assistant coaches and coordinators to do their jobs with minimal interference on his part. Granted, he does have a bit more involvement with the defense but rarely do you see him on the sideline with a clipboard and dry-erase marker, telling the linebackers how better to get to the quarterback. He isn't going to give an impassioned, fire and brimstone motivational speech before a game. He leaves that for his veterans like Terrell Owens and Greg Ellis. And being that kind of head coach is not a bad thing. Tony Dungy was thought to be too soft a coach until he won a Super Bowl with a depleted defense.

What Wade Phillips needs to do is find that perfect balance between being the nice guy coach and being able to instill the discipline necessary to win a championship. Perhaps what we saw against Denver was just a tired, tapped out team ready to get back home after three weeks of training camp. But what you start doing now as a team will carry on into the regular season and will provide something to build upon as you gear up for the playoffs. What might seem like a simple, harmless penalty in week 2 becomes a game changing holding call in the playoffs. If the Cowboys come out and cream the Texans in the first half of Friday's game, then all the chagrin about the last one will immediately be forgotten. But high level of discipline and work ethic have to be present at all times, no matter how unimportant the game might be. The mindset of a championship team has to be there from the very beginning, but you can't just think you're a great team. You have to play and act like one. That falls on the head coach's shoulder.

Dallas Cowboys reading material

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:06:35 -0000

Sorry for the lack of posting, life has been extremely busy recently. Hopefully sometime tonight I can get the film reviews up.

Here’s some stuff to read.

With Miles Austin injured, there’s a ton of talk about the other WR’s and who will step up. DallasCowboys.com takes a look at the full-picture, the DMN focuses more on Sam Hurd, and the Star-T examines just how important a third option in the receiving game is for a team.

Timmy Mac gives some love to Tashard Choice, representing the ATL and GT!

John Beck?

Hat tip Deke.

The question of the day coming from Wade Phillips press conference: Should we use Felix Jones as our main guy on kick returns? Phillips gave no clear indication if that will happen this year and made note that kickoff return is a high-injury phase of the game and that El Gato is becoming integral to this offense.

So what say you BTB?

Poll

Should Dallas use Felix Jones as the main kick returner in the 2008 season?

BTB on ESPN Austin

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:22:41 -0000

Hey,

Just letting you guys know I'll be on ESPN Austin 1530 AM for The Drive with Geoff Ketchum & Chad Hastings. I should go on around 6 PM EST, listen online if you can.

That is all, carry on.

Wade Phillips press conference 8/18/08

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:40:55 -0000

Here are my highlights from the Wade Phillips press conference.

Injury Situation:

Miles Austin - sprained knee 4-6 weeks
Kevin Burnett - surgery went fine, expect him for opening game
Terence Newman - may practice this week, maybe play last preseason game
Anthony Spencer - should be back this week
Justin Rogers - Grade I shoulder sprain which is minor OK for this game
Ronnie Cruz - similar injury to Rogers
Chris Canty - right hip contusion, no problem
Marcus Dixon - back problems, don’t know if he’ll practice
Quincy Butler - maybe this week or next.

Mental mistakes like missed assignments and some of the penalties were the big problem in the Denver game. A little unsure about some of the calls and wants to talk to the NFL about the tripping call and how late is a late hit to get clarification. We don’t tackle in practice and you can only see that in game and we need work on that so we’re playing the starters a lot more this week, also want to get the timing in passing game.

Special teams played well because they hardly made any mental mistakes. Felix Jones may play some kickoff return in the next games but there are several guys who can do it, Isaiah Stanback continues look good, Orlando Scandrick looked good, Pacman wants to do everything, as does Felix. Felix is becoming integral to the offense, too. Makes us a little reluctant to play Felix on that team because there are more injuries on kickoffs than other phases of the game.

We have enough WR’s without Miles to be a strong group.

It’s possible the starters will play three quarters Friday.

Miles Austin has come a long way, we saw the potential, he’s reaching it now, played well the last two games. His routes are better, his confidence up, he made two contested balls look like easy catches in the game, he’s learning how to do that.

We didn’t double #15 (Brandon Marshall), we would have, they threw it to him in practice all week, but we played our base stuff and got that down. We also played a lot of people, we’ll hone it down this week to guys we’re counting on.

The blocked punt was a great play by Tashard Choice, he was the hold-up guy and could press the punt if he thinks he can block it, that shows he has moxie, we had two spies who didn’t wait to see the ball punted, they left early. That won’t happen again. Choice keeps improving on special teams. He contributed more on ko coverage, ko return and punt return. He’s a young player who wants to do it.

Isaiah Stanback will get a lot of work, he’s doing better and better, he’ll get his opportunity. He ran good routes in the game, he’s a strong runner after the catch. It’s about confidence with him, we’re looking at him as one of our WR’s and he’ll get more playing time.

Adam Jones played a bit on Saturday, he’s started to get his timing back. Adam almost had a pick six, he’ll get one this year and had a great punt return. He asked me to do punt or kickoff return last week, I said no wait until we get home, he came back to me and said “coach just give me a kickoff or punt return.” I said OK if they were backed up and we could return it. He might not have known about the spiking rule, but he does now, it won’t happen again.

Bradie James played alright in the nickel role of Burnett, he’s been playing consistently in preseason, he’s in a groove, he had 5 tackles and a knock down on a third down pass. We’ll do more things on defense than what we did, we we’re vanilla on third downs, ran the same coverages. With Burnett out, Bradie will play in that role but Bobby can play it and Zach can play it, too.

Roy Williams has had a good camp, he hasn’t played a whole lot yet, he needs more playing time like a lot of the starters. His coverage has been good

Dallas Cowboys "breaking camp" notes

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:00:08 -0000

All the press reports on Miles Austin say 4-6 weeks on his sprained MCL. That’s a drag, but I’m holding out hope for more like 2-3 weeks. False hope maybe, but until I hear it from Wade Phillips or Miles Austin, I’ll hold out hope. Meantime, the door is open for Isaiah Stanback, Danny Amendola or one of the other receivers to make their move. Bobby Carpenter didn't grab his opportunity against the Broncos with Kevin Burnett out, he turned in a very mediocre performance. He needs to be better than he was on Saturday if he wants to convince the Cowboys coaches that he deserves to play. Don’t waste your good preseason now, Captain Caveman.

Everything you ever wanted to know about El Gato, and more.

The Cowboys are tired after training camp and glad to be going home.

"I feel like I’ve been on tour with a rock band. I feel like I’ve been on tour with a famous singer," Cowboys defensive tackle Tank Johnson said. "I’m ready to get home, get back to my bed and kinda get into a routine of the season. This hasn’t been easy. Playing, traveling, unnecessary traveling, but this is how it goes."

Could that be part of the reason for poor play on Saturday? Probably not, but the Cowboys recognize they can’t play as sloppy as they’ve been doing in the regular season.

"Mistakes and penalties," Cowboys defensive lineman Jay Ratliff said after the Cowboys’ 23-13 loss in Denver. "We are beating ourselves. The main thing is to not hurt yourself. I don’t think it’s a lack of concentration, but we need to be aware of what we’re doing. We need to eliminate mental errors and stupid penalties."

Leave it to Crayton to say the true, but inappropriate thing.

"I think [lead official] Mr. [Ed] Hochuli likes to get himself on TV a little bit. I know he likes to work out, but c’mon, Mr. Hochuli," Crayton said. "We don’t gotta see that much of you."

No need to rile up the refs this early, Crayton.

Coverage of the game from a Denver perspective. That Eddie Royal was something.

Cowboys @ Broncos NFLN replay open thread

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:44:17 -0000

The NFL Network is replaying the Cowboys @ Broncos game at 4 PM EST.

This is an open thread for chat while watching the game.

The BTB fantasy football league shook out like this:

Grizz, TH, Brandon, Terry, scottmaui and philosopher were already in the league. The six spots from the random drawing went to tasan, BigRigga31, The Jeezus, bryangene, grapejoos and jascksastud.

More guys were interested in playing so if anybody wants to create a couple of other leagues on FleaFlicker, I’ll cover them on the blog too, but we’ll need someone to step up as commissioners and create the leagues. If someone wants to do that and if enough guys are interested, respond in this open thread. Also, I think we had at least one other BTB fantasy league brewing, if whoever is running that let’s me know about it, I’ll cover it, too. And I guess that goes for any BTB-member league going.

We have this little software program that calculates stats on open threads. So I used it on the three Broncos game open threads below.

Here are the top-5 BTB’ers in number of comments on the open threads:
Bigrigga31 – 114 comments
Brandon W - 101
scottmaui - 86
Wmillion - 76
Dave Halprin (Grizz) - 57

We had 33 people participate, which is actually kind of low. Hope to see more next game.

Click below to see everybody’s stats.

WB3forMB3 - 46
grapejoos - 42
quincyyyyy - 36
Deke - 30
Zak - 30
silverblue5 - 28
Longhorn - 25
GimmyJ - 20
sublimezg - 19
Billito - 15
DC_fan - 11
Philosopher - 10
Bigdogarita - 7
kindablue - 4
dlthibo - 4
downsetgo - 4
Tuna Helper - 4
Doomsday - 4
TimSchultz36 - 3
Wharter - 3
JimmyJohnson - 2
APerfectStar - 2
TrueBlue24 - 1
325424 - 1
rangerider - 1
dunkman - 1
GloryDayz88 - 1
bad knees - 1

Cowboys @ Broncos: What They're Saying (w/ Miles Austin update)

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:56:06 -0000

Time to crank up the quote machine for a segment of “What They’re Saying.”

Miles Austin was having a beautiful preseason, until he covered a kickoff last night right after scoring a TD. Austin suffered a sprained right MCL on the play and will miss at least the rest of the preseason and is very questionable to play in the regular season opener. Mickey Spags says this in his morning article:

And while the news on wide receiver Miles Austin isn't likely to be year-ending, chances are Sunday's MRI is going to reveal a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee, which likely will keep the greatly-improving third-year player out four to six weeks.

Uggh. He didn’t need this, right as he was putting it all together and on the verge of getting serious playing time. Austin says:

"I had expectations for myself. It's early and any injury I'm going to be upset or down. I'm just going to get back in rehab and see what the problem is and try to fix it."

Let’s hope for a speedy return from our speedy receiver. Other injuries included Chris Canty’s hip that appears to be nothing, Deon Anderson returned to the game after getting his bell rung, Ronnie Cruz dislocated his shoulder and Justin Rogers also sprained his shoulder.

Brad Johnson had a better game. And Mickey Spags goes to great lengths to let you know that. His love-letter includes Brad saying:

"I've fought (the perceptions) from middle school to high school and for 17 years in the NFL," Johnson said. "I'm used to it. Nothing I do is ever good enough, but I sleep well at night because I know how hard I work, and that's good enough for me."

Johnson doesn’t even pretend he’s not a bus driver.

"What you hope for," Johnson said of when the backup comes in, "is you hope to stay away from penalties, manage the huddle, manage the game and make the plays you're supposed to make."

I feel better about Johnson after that performance but I’m still not settled.

The Dallas Cowboys be lovin’ them some penalties in the preseason. Romo explains how bad they can be for a team.

"It's like a turnover," quarterback Tony Romo said. "When we get a penalty on third-and-long after we've stopped them, it's like we forced a punt and just threw a pick. It's the same thing. We have to stop that. Eventually, penalties catch up with you."

Preach on, brother.

Romo also puts forth the Vanilla Theory as a good reason not to worry.

"It comes down to executing. If they man up or play zone, we still have to make plays," Romo said. "We still have a vanilla offense and don't want to show our hand this time of year."

But man, if Romo could had just hit Sam Hurd on that bomb.

Last year we blitzed the bejeezus out of Denver and that led to some vocal complaints by them after the preseason game. Apparently this year, we decided to play vanilla on defense, too.

"I talked to [Brian Stewart] and last year we got after those guys and blitzed them a lot," linebacker Bradie James said. "He said that he got some E-mail from some offensive coordinators saying this must be you're first time being an defensive coordinator because you broke the etiquette of just playing vanilla. We did a lot of base stuff. I would have loved to really get after them. But we played what was called."

Martellus Bennett made a nice catch and run and a special teams tackle. He’s happy.

"How do you like me now?" Bennett joked in the locker room afterward. "I told people I was going to beast out."

Hard Knocks, here we come.

So while the game wasn’t all bad, it was definitely a poor showing overall. There is a lot of room for improvement and the Miles Austin injury is a real drag. But, the show goes on and Romo is ready to work.

"We definitely have things to work on," quarterback Tony Romo said, "but there is still some time for that."

Dallas Cowboys starters not sharp in loss to Denver Broncos

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:45:32 -0000

Denver 23 – Dallas 13.

Here’s the good news – it was the starters that stunk it up this week (with a few exceptions like Zach Thomas). Yup, I’m taking that as good news, because I’m pretty sure that they won’t be that bad in the regular season. Give the Broncos credit too, Cutler played well, their receivers were killing our secondary and their line protected the QB. They looked good. But I’m sure our starters will play better by the real season and we got improved play out of the backups this week.

Miles Austin really helped himself again until he sprained his knee. Let’s hope that’s not serious because Austin is starting to show real promise. He made two great catches, one for a TD. Brad Johnson looked a little better behind the Cowboys starting line and the second unit did a better job of protecting him. The two passes to Austin though felt more like Austin did all the work and Brad just threw them up there. Still, he had a few other nice plays and gave me a little more confidence. Richard Bartel also looked better; he might have led us to a game-tying TD if his receiver hadn’t betrayed him. The game seem to slow down a little for Bartel this week, it looked like he was more in command of his offense.

The big surprise was the improved play of the special teams. Tashard Choice blocked a punt, Isaiah Stanback and Orlando Scandrick had a couple of good kick returns. Adam Jones looked good on his punt return. The coverage teams were much better, especially the punt team. Nick Folk and Mat McBriar kicked well. At least we came out of the game feeling a lot better about special teams.

On the other side of the ledger, the penalties are ridiculous. We killed ourselves with penalties again. We are playing undisciplined, sloppy football out there. Wade Phillips needs to get it through their heads that penalties are a sure way to self-destruct. We saw plenty of examples of that on the field tonight.

I couldn’t watch it on the big-screen or with Tivo replays, and the numbers for the players weren’t always clear on my little video, so I can’t go into deep analysis. But I can say we got very little pass rush early and our first team secondary didn’t play that well. In general, the defense of the first quarter was abysmal. Here are some other quick observations

Looking good:
Miles Austin, let’s pray his knee isn’t seriously injured.
Adam Jones, had a good night tackling plus a punt return.
Orlando Scandrick, nice hit and a couple of other good plays.
Rodney Hannah put on a little show for a couple of drives.
Evan Oglesby when playing against the backups. Not so much against the starters, but he’s a backup anyway.

Tough day at the office:
First team defense.
Team discipline.

Quick hits:
Nice run after catch by Felix Jones.
Tashard Choice blocking a punt.
Keon Lattimore with a couple of good runs.
Danny Amendola got his first catch.
Todd Lowber got his first catch for 39 yards.

Box Score.

Cowboys @ Broncos open thread III 8/16/08

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 02:44:28 -0000

New open thread for the Cowboys/Broncos game.

Cowboys @ Broncos open thread II 8/16/08

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:49:00 -0000

New open thread for the Cowboys/Broncos game.

Cowboys @ Broncos open thread 8/16/08

Dave Halprin (Grizz) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:00:10 -0000

Open Thread

Dallas Cowboys @ Denver Broncos

Saturday, Aug 16th, 2008

9:00 PM EST, TV: None (NFLN Replay @ 4:00 PM EST Sunday)

Invesco Field at Mile High – Denver, CO

Listen online try The Ticket or WOAI.

This is an open thread for game chat.

Weather Forecast

T-Storms (70%)

59 degrees

Wind ESE 4 mph

Dallas Cowboys @ Denver Broncos: What I'm looking for

Brandon W — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:45:45 -0000

Quarterbacks: Wade Phillips has stated that the starting offense will play the entire half, with Tony Romo, Terrell Owens and Marion Barber coming out after the first quarter. This will give Brad Johnson the chance to have extended time playing behind the starting offensive line and should give us a better look at our backup quarterback situation. While Johnson certainly wasn't on fire last week, I also don't think he played so bad that everyone needed to go into hysterics. If Johnson is still unable to make the throws needed when he actually has time in the pocket, then I will really get concerned.

On top of wanting to see how Johnson plays, I am also interested to see what Tony Romo does playing more than one series in the game. Romo hasn't exactly been sharp this week practicing against the Broncos and he and Owens haven't been on the same page. I'm not even in the same room as the panic button, but I do want to see how Romo adjusts against a defense that has been giving him trouble.

Special Teams: Last week I pointed this out as an area to watch, but mostly so we could get a good look at individual players. After last week's debacle, now the focus is on how the unit itself plays. I'll be honest, I have never seen such poor play on special teams, even in the preseason. Yeah, I know the coaches are kinda throwing guys out there to see how they do but the team should have some kind of direction in how to consistently cover punts. I wasn't impressed with Bruce Read's unit last year and he may be thin ice if the poor play continues.

Receivers: Miles Austin had a really good game last week and Patrick Crayton showed that he is still the consistent possession receiver he was last season. What I want to see is if Danny Amendola, Mike Jefferson and Todd Lowber are able to get on the field and make something happen. Lowber wasn't even able to play a single down last game so I know he is itching to show what he can do in a game.

Defensive Backs: The Cowboys were outscored 31-17, yet the Chargers only had 106 yards passing last week. The Chargers were missing their main offensive weapons and the defense wasn't really tested in the passing game. Tonight the Cowboys face a much more potent passing offense against Denver, with Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall and Tony Sheffler all expected to see significant playing time. This will be a good test to see how much our secondary has really improved, even with Terence Newman sitting out.

We should get a good look at Mike Jenkins and Adam Jones, who will be looking to shake off some more rust. It will also be interesting to see the personnel the Cowboys use against a a very good tight end in Sheffler. The Cowboys have made it clear they plan on matching up Henry as a safety against tight ends and tonight should be our first chance to see how that matchup works out.